A/N - I've taken a bit of a creative liberty with Polis' location and situated in the location of present day Annapolis, Maryland.
Chapter V – Betrayal
Lexa hummed tunelessly to herself as she stood watching the general goods store. It had been almost twenty minutes since Clarke had gone in and she knew that despite Clarke's attempts at feigning innocence there was something more going on. It was always wheels within wheels and plans within plans when it came to the Tseekru and Clarke was doing a good a job of living up to the stereotype.
That morning one of Lexa's guards had come to her as she was having breakfast to let her know that Clarke had left the tower. She had been halfway curious to see what Clarke would do with her illusion of freedom and had almost been disappointed when the guard reported that she had made a beeline for the mess hall. The next report of one of her own warriors joining Clarke for breakfast had been interesting enough for Lexa to throw on some neutral coloured clothing and head out into Polis proper. When she had arrived one of her warriors had reported that Clarke had gone into the general goods store despite walking by it and being overly aware of her surroundings. Now Lexa and several of her guard were staking out the store just to see what would emerge.
Clarke left the store first carrying a cloth bag and headed back towards the tower. Slowly one of Lexa's guards detached himself from the wall that he had been supporting and casually ambled off after her. Lexa was more curious to see who Clarke's contact would be. The next person to leave the store was an elderly shopkeeper who kept a small market stall in the main market. Lexa knew the shopkeeper and he had been a fixture in Polis for his entire life – hardly a likely candidate for a spymaster. The next departure was a tall woman dressed in a grey cloak. Her hair was closely wrapped up in a grey scarf but a few strands of red hair escaped from the scarf. She glanced around her before setting out at a determined pace towards the dock. Lexa motioned for her guards to follow her as they prepared to shadow the redhead.
They caught up with her just at the top the wharf leading down to the pier. Several Floudonkru fishers were working at their boats but it was the long boat full of Tseekru sailors and the quartet of black clad soldiers that drew Lexa's attention. She could almost feel the relief exuding from the redhead as she made her way towards the boat. Too late did the redhead realize that Lexa and her men where upon her. Lexa grabbed her by the arm to arrest her progress to the launch. The redhead turned towards her and her expression shifted quickly from confusion to anger until it settled into a neutral mask – one that Lexa was very familiar with having used it herself many times.
"Can I help you?" The redhead asked.
"Indeed you can." Lexa replied firmly, still keeping a tight grip on the other woman's bicep. "You can tell me what you and Clarke were discussing."
A flicker of recognition slipped across the other woman's features before her mask slipped back into place but it was all that Lexa needed to see to know that she had the right person. "I'm sorry, who?"
"Come now, acting coy doesn't suit you." Lexa chided before giving the woman's arm a meaningful squeeze.
"Heda." One of the guards interrupted. Lexa glanced over at him and quickly followed his gaze towards the guards by the launch. They were slowly and very menacingly advancing up the pier with drawn swords. The redhead also followed her gaze and glanced back and forth between Lexa's guards and her own men. A swift shake of her head brought the guards to a halt.
"Very well Lexa." The redhead said dropping the pretence of innocence. "What do you want?"
"For you to answer some questions. A great many questions."
"You are going to let me go." The redhead answered simply.
"And why is that?" Lexa scoffed.
"Because the captain of the Borealis's standing orders are that if I do not return to the ship by mid-afternoon then he is to bring the ship into range and bombard Polis."
Lexa glanced at the woman before glancing back at the soldiers on the pier but it was already too late. The soldiers had re-boarded the launch and the sailors were pulling hard for open water. As Lexa watched a flare climbed out of the launch into the morning sky. Moments later an answering flare flew into the sky from a nearby island. Lexa traced the flare's origin down to the island and she watched the some of the trees seemed to sprout massive squares of white canvas.
"I'd say that you have about an hour before she enters firing range." The redhead supplied. "Then you may have about four or five more before the captain opens fire."
Lexa turned back to the redhead. "If he opens fire then you will die first."
"If he opens fire then the Coalition and the Tseekru will be at war – a war that you cannot win." The redhead predicted ominously.
"Sis em op." Lexa ordered as she released the redhead. Her guards complied and hustled the redhead off to the tower. Lexa grimly considered the squares of canvas as they began to move around the island.
Upon returning to the tower Lexa left her new guest under strict guard before setting off to find Clarke. One way or another she would have answers from the Skai girl. In the end she found Clarke in the practice yard behind the tower going through her katas with a dull practice sword. Stepping into the shadows Lexa took the opportunity to watch the other woman go through a few practice thrusts and withdrawals. Clarke was surprisingly adept with the sword despite being shorter and more compact than Lexa. As she watched Clarke move she observed a certain economy of movement in her attacks, while not graceless there was functional element to her movement indicating to Lexa that Clarke's martial talents likely lay with her rifle and not her sword. Lexa suddenly realized that this was perhaps the first time she had been able to get a good look at Clarke despite all they had been through.
As though able to sense to sense someone watching her Clarke paused mid thrust and straightened up to scan her surroundings. There was a cautiousness that was not born of nervousness or fear about her gaze. As Clarke's gaze met Lexa's she realized that there was a pragmatism about the Skai girl. She sized up her surroundings not simply looking for threats or targets but with an eye towards determining where everything around her fit and how it interacted with the other components around it. Judging from her look it seemed as though she had yet to make up her mind about Lexa.
"Heda."
"Clarke."
"Care to join me?" Clarke asked making an inviting gesture with the practice machete that she had been using.
Lexa ambled over and picked up a practice blade of her own before entering the practice yard with Clarke. As the two stood facing each other Clarke broke the silence again. "I take it you're here to talk about something."
Lexa studied Clarke but the other woman was giving nothing away her eyes were scanning Lexa for the telltale signs of an impending attack. "You could say that. I wanted to know how your morning was."
"An awfully domestic question to ask one of your servants." Clarke interrupted Lexa's reply with an exploratory thrust which Lexa easily avoided.
"Is that how you see yourself?" Lexa advanced cautiously on Clarke forcing her to give ground.
"It is what I am." Clarke deflected Lexa's attack and used her momentum to neatly sidestep Lexa, inverting their positions.
"I'd hardly describe you as such given the un-paralleled amount of freedom you have." Lexa carefully deflected the series of probing slashes that Clarke launched at her defenses before counter attacking with a swipe of her own. Clarke hissed in pain as she flexed the now bloodied knuckles of her left hand.
Backing away, Lexa could see Clarke sizing her up again.
"If you must know Lexa I went and got some breakfast and some drawing supplies before coming here to practice. After all a blade goes dull if she isn't honed." Clarke quoted as she circled Lexa warily.
"Words to live by." Lexa ground out as she as she used a rising cut to try and disarm Clarke but the Skai girl had anticipated the attack and neatly withdrew out of the way.
"I get the impression that there's something else going on here Lexa." Clarke concluded as she continued to circle Lexa.
"So you're sure that was all you did this morning?" Lexa asked as she advanced towards Clarke.
"Well I did have a rather in depth discussion with the leader of the Ship Clan in the general goods store." Clarke replied simply. Taking advantage of Lexa's shock she almost casually batted Lexa's sword out of her hand.
"Not the response you were expecting?" Clarke asked with a smirk written across her face.
Lexa was not one to lose and Clarke was so smugly confident in the fact that she had won that she never saw Lexa's next attack coming. Batting Clarke's sword out of the loose one handed grip she had been holding it in she drove her elbow into Clarke's face sending her down into the sand with a dull thump. Lexa nimbly climbed astride her defeated foe who looked up at her with a dazed expression.
"Not the response you were expecting Clarke?" Lexa asked, nonchalantly twisting Clarke's words against her.
Clarke groaned as she shifted underneath Lexa. "This is getting to be a habit for you Lexa."
Lexa lightly stood up and offered Clarke her hand which the defeated Skai girl took with a grumble.
"Now Clarke, I want you to tell me what it was that you and Mara discussed."
"How do you know her name?"
"Oh I know more than that, she is sitting in a cell back at the tower and if you value your life and hers then you had best be completely truthful with me." Lexa threatened.
Clarke's face paled at Lexa's revelation and she took Lexa's arm almost unconsciously. "Lexa, this isn't a road you want to go down. The only thing we discussed was what you wanted with me. There is no conspiracy against the Coalition at least not one involving the Tseekru."
Lexa shrugged off Clarke's hand irritably. "Your actions have called your loyalties into serious doubt Clarke."
"You expected me to renounce my loyalties to my Clan?" Clarke scoffed disbelievingly. "I wasn't aware loyalty to you and loyalty to the Ship Clan were mutually exclusive. If I had known that I would have taken the servitude option instead if it meant not betraying my people."
For a moment Lexa was almost proud of the Skai girl's defiance, loyalty to one's clan was highly prized amongst the Trikru and the courage to stand up for her principles was something that Lexa sympathized with. Lexa was careful not to let her feelings show as she responded to Clarke. "You are aware of how your actions looked."
"I am aware that you don't trust me Lexa." Clarke snapped back. "And while the feeling is mutual it doesn't mean we can't work together. If you need my word that I won't compromise my loyalty to you for the sake of my people then I give you that word."
"So if we interrogate Mara she will corroborate what you have said?" Lexa asked slyly.
"If you interrogate Mara then you're going to be facing a war on three fronts Lexa. Is that really what you want?" Clarke shot back. At Lexa's nettled look she pressed on. "Let me guess, as we speak a Tseekru warship is sitting in your harbour getting ready to bombard Polis?"
"Your people do not exactly inspire trust." Lexa spat back not enjoying the reminder that she was literally under the gun.
"Lexa, you cannot continue to act like a bully." Clarke's tone changed entirely from confrontation to placation. "The world around us is too harsh to be controlled by force of will alone. You need allies and the Tseekru can be allies."
"Do not think I am blind to what you are doing Clarke."
"And what am I doing?"
"Advancing your people's interests at the cost of our own."
Clarke threw up her hands in disgust and turned away from Lexa. "If you cannot see reason then there is no hope for you Lexa."
Lexa stood there unwilling to give ground to the Skai girl but at the same time confronting the unfortunate truth that Clarke was right. Unfortunately, she had dug herself too deeply into her predicament and could no longer see a way out of it. Surrender and compromise was simply not in her nature but in the end nature would have to bend to reality.
"Clarke." Lexa tried. "I will release Mara."
Clarke turned to confront Lexa.
"She will remove her spies amongst my people as a gesture of good faith. Once I am satisfied then we may open formal discussions about a lasting peace between our peoples. Allies, even potential allies, do not spy on one another do they Clarke?"
Clarke seemed to deflate slightly in relief. "You speak the truth Heda."
"You may inform Mara of my decision." Lexa said dismissively.
Clarke studied her for a moment before starting to leave the practice yard but Lexa caught her arm as she moved to leave. Lexa caught her gaze for a moment. "I am glad that you trusted me enough to divulge the truth of what you did this morning."
Clarke looked at her in surprise for a moment before she turned to proceed on her way leaving Lexa standing alone in the practice yard.
A/N - Well the last episode was again quite disappointing. Ontari got a really rough handling and wound up being one of the most underutilized characters in the show. Allie has also been a disappointment since she hardly seems particularly smart about what she's doing(she chronically bungled her analysis of Clarke which was completely unforgivable writing). Frankly really lazy writing in general given that Clarke and co. just kind of lurch from one failure to another. What made the last season great was that there was a huge amount of preparation and planning that led up to a winning strategy which was turned into certain defeat and then turned back into a victory through sheer ruthlessness on Clarke's part. I hope they can the existing writing staff and bring in some new blood.
